Food: 3.5
Service: 2.5
Price: Cheap in the Cafe. Moderate to Expensive in the Bistro.
Reservations: Recommended if you want to dine in the bistro.
Faubourg has been a welcome new addition to the mix of cafes scattered about in the Kerrisdale area since late last year. Much has been talked about this place for awhile, and not much for a typical latte, but more for a sit-down experience that whisks your imagination away to Paris!
Indeed, as I have found out, this is true J When I do come here, I find myself sitting in its tight cafe space amongst a mix of English and French accents with a warm flakey croissant in one hand and a cup of cappuccino in the other. Absorbing the smells of the bakery and capturing a black a white motion picture projected on a wall in the top corner of my eye, I can’t help but feel I’m like I’m somewhere else! A characteristic Kerrisdale experience this place also offers is an Afternoon Tea Service. My friend C was enormously excited about organizing an afternoon tea get-together at Faubourg after experiencing “Paris” first-hand with her mother not long ago. And of course, as a girl in love with afternoon tea, I did not hesitate to take-up the invitation J
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| Inside the Cafe (left) and Movie Projection (right) |
What to Expect:
· A busy cafe! On weekends, it’s hard to find a seat!
· Difficulty ordering if you’re a first timer because the sandwiches and desserts are displayed on one side of the till and the croissants, brioche, and turnovers are displayed on the other side
· Narrow walking space in seating area, so careful handling of your food to the table is a must!
· A separate bistro area behind the cafe, where Afternoon Tea, Brunch, and Lunch are served
· Some outside seating
· Service that somehow doesn’t live up to the atmosphere and food
Running late on a dreary day, I approached the cafe hoping I wasn’t late to order with C and our friend K. As luck had it, I found C and K outside the cafe, not seated yet. However, I also found out C did not make a reservation for tea ahead of time, meaning we had to wait an hour for the Faubourg kitchen to prepare our service. So as we waited in the cafe area, I ordered my favourite, an Almond Croissant for us to share before we were admitted into its back bistro.
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| Almond Croissant, $2.90 |
Yeast-risen croissant baked with layers of butter, topped with icing sugar and almond slices
· according to the cashier, this croissant is the most popular item from the bakery!
· baked fresh and was slightly warm when I took it back to our seat
· it’s a light pastry, golden and crisp on the outside, and soft in the inside
· what really makes this croissant special is the light apple (or we thinks it’s apple!) glaze coated over it, underneath the almonds
· ...so at each delightful bite into the dough, we tasted the sweet juices of apples, while simultaneously crunching into slivers of almonds...beautiful!
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| Inside the Bistro (left), and its Grand Chandelier (right) |
Once an hour had passed by, we were finally seated in the back. Never having been in the bistro
before, I quickly noticed the immediate contrast between it and the cafe: it was small, just like the
cafe, but it felt more comfortable. A magnificent chandelier set a romantic mood, along with a large
mirror and a large portrait of French cafe life. There was a lot of chit chat in the bistro, but definitely
not at the bustling level of the cafe.
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| Afternoon Tea Selection |
We all decided to settle on Faubourg’s full tea service, the Pink Tea Service, at $25.50 per person.
To start, we were shown a long tray of various black, green, and herbal teas that we could choose from. None of the teas were really pungent, so we had to choose our teas based on name and description. After choosing our teas, they came back to our table in silver and white teapots, in warm (but not piping hot!) water. It was nice to be served some tea to start, because it still took some time before the food came out of the kitchen.
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| My Choice: Sultane Tea (pronounced soo-tan), Strong and Bright Black Tea |
· not as strong as I expected, but it went nicely with the food
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| Pink Tea Service, $25.50 |
“Wow!” Our service was beautiful, yet simple, and was definitely on the upper end of tea
service presentations I’ve seen in Vancouver.
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| Mini Sandwiches |
specifically for mini individual servings.
· Smoked Salmon and Wasabi Cream Sandwich
o fillings: 1 slice of smoked salmon, a green leaf, and cream cheese
o didn’t taste any of the noted wasabi flavour on its menu description
· Chicken, Apple, Country Ranch Dressing Sandwicho fillings: chicken breast pieces, red onion, celery, ranch dressing, and butter
o there was no apple in the sandwich as described on the menu
o the sandwich was okay, nothing special
· Cucumber, Roast Beef, Coriander Cream Sandwicho the roast beef was the preserved luncheon-meat kind
o couldn’t taste the roast beef while eating the sandwich because the thick piece of cucumber and the sandwich bread overwhelmed the roast beef
o didn’t taste any coriander in the cream
o disappointed with this sandwich as it tasted more like a cucumber and cream cheese sandwich
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| Raisin Scone, Jam, and Cream |
o raisin scone was small (2” to 3”)
o I liked that crystal sugar was sprinkled on both the top and bottom sides
o a very nice and fluffy scone with plump raisins
· Jam (2.3 mL, made in France) o each person at our table was given either strawberry or apricot flavoured jam in individual jars
o the server didn’t ask what jam we wanted, so we got what they gave
o If you don’t finish them, you can take them home J
· Cream o regular whipped cream, which is fine, but I prefer Devonshire Cream at my tea sittings
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| from left to right, Strawberry Souffle, Parfait, Apple Cake |
o had a candy strawberry taste
o texture was quite cakey and sticky
o not blown away by this dessert, but very impressed they serve a soufflé for all their sittings because they’re not easy to make!
· Parfait Fresh blueberry, strawberry, blackberry, and raspberry pieces, granola, and plain yogourt
o some of the berries were sweet, but some of them were sour
o the yogourt was quite sour, much like a healthy probiotic yogourt
o looked better than it tasted
· Apple Cake o the Afternoon Tea menu doesn’t offer this; it was supposed to be a Chocolate Truffle
o crunchy, fresh apples pieces atop, coated in a nice apple glaze
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| from left to right, Mini Opera, Chocolate Mousse, Mini Lemon Tart |
o had a very nice chocolate ganache on top, which saved the dessert from tasting completely dry
o the sponge cake layers had a slight coffee taste
· Chocolate Mousse o fresh raspberry on top tasted so well mixed in with the chocolate mousse
o the mousse was very standard, which I like
· Mini Lemon Tart Lemon curd and sweet rice krispy-like crumbs on top, a meringue inside, and a cookie base at the
bottom
o the lemon curd was sweet, but sour to distinguish the lemon taste
o ...although, the lemon curd may have been a bit too sour because I kept making sour faces at each lick
o the meringue inside had a sweet lemony taste as well
o overall, one of the better desserts at this sitting, but the one at the Secret Garden Tea Company (down the street) is better
After coming to the cafe a few times, and now having experienced the bistro, I must say that
Faubourg is a unique cafe/restaurant in Vancouver, somewhere I’d recommend people to go for a
different experience. However to any of my friends who really enjoy food, I wouldn’t quite
recommend this place. I hate to admit that, even though I love its almond croissant, but especially
after having its tea service, I find the food is hit and miss for me—beautiful, but I’ve had better....
And I hate to be too critical, but the service here just doesn’t live up to the atmosphere either. I
always sense a lack of enthusiasm from the front counter servers at the cafe, and in the bistro, we
were pretty much ignored after our food was served. To boot, we were asked to leave after our 2
hours in the bistro because the bistro had to accommodate another party coming soon. They had a
valid excuse for us to leave space in the bistro, but for customers who are paying $30 per person,
they could’ve accommodated us with a table in the cafe area if we still wanted to chit chat with our
tea....or at least that’s my opinion. Overall, I have a mixed opinion about Faubourg. But if I were to
give advice to anyone itching to come here in the future, I think the key to having a great experience here is to have no expectation of it at all.
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